Who we are
INTRODUCTION
Last April a number of interested individuals gathered in Belgium for the
first Euro-American New Urban Council – it was quite a success. By last day the
group concluded that it was time to create a movement dedicated to European
urbanism. It was agreed to meet in Stockholm to pursue this aim more formally
and finalise a Charter to define the aims of the Council.
read more ... C.E.U. UK
PURPOSE
During an intense one-day session in Stockholm on November 6th 2003 some
sixty participants came together to:
• finalize and sign The Charter for European Urbanism - the document produced by
the group is called The Charter of Stockholm
• set up the CEU governing structure and agree on an interim steering committee
and secretariat
• discuss and decide upon policies and actions and
• form task forces.
LOCATION
The meeting took place at Järla Sjö; Nacka is Sweden’s newly built urban neighbourhood located 10 minutes from Stockholm City. An appendix to the Proceedings describes the site in more detail. Järla Sjö – a mixed site - just outside Stockholm
One of Järla Sjö’s developers, Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB, helped to
sponsor the meeting. Wihlborgs Fastigheter AB offering an elegant
meeting hall in the centre of Järla Sjö and provided lunch. They
presented the site to participants during the session and a walk around
the area.
THE MEETING
Joanna Alimanestianu welcomed participants.
The first session comprised panel presentations from Harald Kegler, Robert Adam,
Matthew Hardy and Javier Cenicacelaya on the aims of the Council for European
Urbanism. This was followed by an open discussion on the proposed Charter and
all participants had an opportunity to assist in making final adjustments to the
text, which is reproduced below.
Presentations from the developer and project architects of Järla Sjö, Nacka
preceded lunch which was followed by a guided walk around the new neighborhood.
All participants then took part in signing the Charter.
Meeting, Stockholm, 2003
Valuable input from Andres Duany, Ellen Greenberg,
Robert Gibbs and Robert Adam assisted in the process of both finalising the
Charter and considering future actions.
Finally there was a discussion on setting up a structure and secretariat
function for the CEU. Members of an Interim Steering Committee were elected
and it was agreed that the secretariat would be Oslo based under the
stewardship of Audun Engh of Byens Fornyelse, funds permitting.
THE COMMITTEE
Members of the Interim Steering Committee elected by the participants for
office over the next year are:
Joanna Alimanestianu, Belgium
José Baganha, Portugal
Harald Kegler, Germany (Deputy Chair)
Luigi Mollo, Italy
Peter Elmlund, Sweden
Louise Nystrom, Sweden
Audun Engh, Norway (Secretary)
Matthew Hardy, UK (Technical adviser)
Susan Parham, UK (Chair)
THE SECRETARIAT
Following finalisation of funding, it is intended to set up a secretariat for the CEU in the Oslo office of Byens Fornyelse under the direction of Audun Engh, contact details audun.engh@broadpark.no, +47.92622626
CONTACTS
Matthew Hardy has set up email based user groups for both the interim Steering Committee (CEU_SC@yahoogroups.com) and CEU members (CEU-list@yahoogroups.com).
FUTURE ACTION
The Interim Steering Committee met over for the first time and flagged a
draft programme of events to take place over the coming two years.
Tentatively these include the following:
• Viseu Education Seminar: It was proposed to hold a CEU Steering Committee
meeting at the Viseu School of Architecture, Portugal, preferably in Spring
2004, to coincide with a mini-seminar on education, organised in
collaboration with the Viseu School. Prof José Baganha has very kindly
offered to host the event. The Viseu meeting will also discuss CEU
Government and the plans for the Bologna conference.
• Bologna Conference 2004: CEU has been invited to participate in the “A
Vision of Europe Conference” planned for Bologna in Autumn 2004. Professor
Luigi Mollo will contact Gabriele Tagliaventi for more details about the
event.
• Congress, Berlin: Professor Harald Kegler is the Steering Committee
representative for the proposed 2005 World Congress in Berlin, and will
write a report about plans for this event. He will also contact Karl-Heinz
Maschmeier in this regard.
TASK FORCES
It was agreed that the CEU would set up task forces to pursue particular aspects of European urbanism. An open discussion with members on all aspects of task force themes and structure should begin as soon as possible.
THE CHARTER
The Charter is reproduced below. Additional supporting text is currently being finalised under the editorial direction of Robert Adam.
THE CHARTER FOR EUROPEAN URBANISM
Stockholm, 6 November 2003
MISSION
The Council for European Urbanism is dedicated to the well being of present and future generations through the advancement of humane cities, towns, villages and countryside in Europe.
CHALLENGE
Cities, towns and villages are being destroyed by social exclusion and isolation, urban sprawl, waste of land and cultural resources, monofunctional development, lack of competitiveness, and a loss of respect for local and regional culture.
OBJECTIVES
Cities, towns and villages should have mixed uses and social diversity; make efficient and sustainable use of buildings, land and other resources; be safe and accessible by foot, bicycle, car and public transport; have clearly defined boundaries at all stages of development; have streets and spaces formed by an architecture that respects local history, climate, landscape and geography; and have a variety that allows for the evolution of society, function and design.
ACTION
The CEU will promote: the distinctive character of European cities, towns, villages and countryside; consolidation, renewal and growth in keeping with regional identity and the aspirations of citizens; where appropriate, the creation of new towns and villages according to these objectives; the reorganisation and redesign of declining suburbs into thriving mixed use areas; respect for the natural environment and its balance with human habitation; and the protection of our built and landscape heritage.
CONTEXT
The CEU recognises that physical improvement cannot stand alone. Cities, towns, villages and the countryside are a reflection of their social, political, economic and environmental context. Any improvement in physical surroundings must be part of a wider advancement of the well-being of the people of Europe.
POLICY, REGULATION AND PRACTICE
The CEU will work for the change, amendment and refinement of economic practices, public policies, law, regulations, guidance and standards of practice at a European, national, regional and local level to further the objectives of this charter.
PROCESS AND PARTICIPATION
The CEU will re-invigorate the relationship between the community, inhabitants and all concerned parties through a process of participation in planning, design, building and management.
THE CEU
The CEU is a network of members which will implement the principles
expressed in this charter.
LIST OF CHARTER SIGNERS AND PARTICIPANTS
A list will be circulated as soon as possible.
APPENDIX ONE - THE MEETING SITE
This is Järla Sjö
Järla Sjö (Lake Järla)
From industrial estate to small town
The ’Järla Sjö’ district is developed on a site of industrial historical
importance at the Lake Järla in Nacka, Stockholm, Sweden. The district plan is
founded on a small town structure, scale and contents — a proper basis for
attaining a human and socially tenable urban environment. We can find this plan
in many beloved sites in Sweden, often by the water, for example in Norrtälje,
Arboga, Strömstad and Trosa. These sites have many visitors, from tourists to
local strollers, at the same time as they are among our most valued and popular
environments for living and work.
The plan for Järla Sjö
Järla Sjö has a mixture of housing and business premises. This provides a rich
and varied environment; the site is populated both during day and night. The
businesses make the district vital with shops, handicrafts, schools and
established companies. In Järla Sjö the ”neighbourhood principle” prevails. Our
entire daily needs can be found within walking distance.
In the plan for Järla Sjö new buildings are incorporated with the old settlement.
The basis is that all the old buildings are kept, which means that one has to
justify the pulling down, not the protection of buildings. Pulling down a
building has to be justified by strong reasons, for example contamination. As a
result of the industrial enterprises the ground has partly been polluted and has
been cleared of slums.
The goal in designing the new houses has been to make them varied, full of
nuances and inspiring.
The streets emanate from the original structure. The plan pattern has also been
influenced by the structures and the trees. By that means the historical traces
are kept for future generations and the urban environment becomes substantial
and exciting. One ambition has been to take advantage of the existing nature.
This means minimising interference with the ground, making room for greening
everywhere, allowing gardening as far as possible and other recreation close to
people’s houses. It is a custom of the people living in Järla to go swimming
where the beach has now been planned.
People’s outdoor movement is concentrated on the streets, the market and the
park. The placing of the houses up to the street alignment makes the street
spaces sheltered. The entrances are facing the public streets. It should be easy
to make contact in places where you can talk, for example seats and cafés. In
Järla Sjö the street and the market make a meeting place, a shopping space and a
traffic space for different kind of vehicles.
The main street goes round the whole area. It is suitable for public transport;
it has a separate pavement and curbstone parking. Broad-leaf trees are planted
along the street.
The streets enclose blocks. The blocks have secure yards to the advantage of the
children. Here the people on the lower floors have a small private garden with
patio with plant growing possibilities. In the middle of the garden there is a
common space for play and social intercourse. Many of the houses have a private
forecourt facing the street.
The blocks have low houses. They can contain detached houses, semi-detached
houses, terraced houses and apartment blocks. A rule of thumb is that the houses
shouldn’t be higher than the crowns of the trees, as high houses make the
neighbourhood windy. Low houses (the average number of floors in Järla Sjö is
around 3), yards surrounded by buildings, closed street rooms and plenty of
vegetation creates a good local climate. Small-scale also improves the
requirements for security, the feeling of homeliness and social control. The
buildings have a human scale, which means that they are not higher than you can
open a window and talk to someone on the ground. Nobody should feel small and
dejected because of the size of the houses.
The distance between the buildings facilitates eye contact. You can say hello to
your neighbour in the house just opposite and the children in the yard are in
full view from the kitchen window.
Around every yard there are maximally 40 flats, so that everybody knows their
neighbours and where they live. Furthermore, every entrance shouldn’t include
more people than it is possible to get to know. This creates a feeling of
community and group affiliation.
The buildings should allow a mixture of age groups and housing categories. For
this reason the flats within each block have different sizes.
The kitchens are facing the yard. You get to the garden on the ground floor from
the kitchen, which makes it into the centre of private life, a place where you
can work and be together and a natural link between indoors and outdoors. Patios
and cultivation of your own garden-patch gives grown-ups a reason to be outdoors.
They meet other people and it is safe for children to have grown-ups near by.
The living rooms are located towards the street, which means there will be a
light on in many windows in this direction in the evenings. This makes the
street more pleasant in the evenings. Houses with the entrances and windows
facing the street create a cosier and safer street environment, as the people in
the houses get an open view of the street.
The parking places will be used both for business premises and houses. The
parking places in blocks with mainly houses are small, isolated and connected to
the buildings. It is easier to incorporate small parking spaces without
dominating the townscape.
There will be clear boundaries between private space, ground common to everybody
in the neighbourhood and public areas. This facilitates the understanding
between people and increases their participation, sense of responsibility and
feeling of homeliness. The boundaries between the different spaces are defined
both legally and by markings on the ground. This is accomplished by vegetation,
pathways, fences, natural formations, and the organisation of the buildings etc.
In this way everybody will know which space they are in. There is an explicit
system for who is responsible for the maintenance of the different spaces in the
neighbourhood.
APPENDIX TWO - SITE VIST TO SANKT ERIK
On Friday following the charter launch, a number of
participants visited the Sankt Erik site in inner Stockholm. This development is
sited on an old hospital site closed in the late 1980s, for which there were
high expectations around the proposal to create an extensive housing complex.
Some of the original hospital (the workhouse and maintenance buildings) were
saved. The remainder of the development comprised a range of housing, mostly in
terrace and apartment forms. Some is centred on an urban space in the form of a
‘circus’ containing a local church that was moved to its new position within the
circus. The development also addresses the urban edge to the river through a
strong wall of housing and an axis or ‘sweep’ flanked by two new residential
towers and terminating in a substantial stairway and pond located within the
river side park.
Sankt Erik’s character is reinforced by its tower elements, sculpture and
interesting apartment typologies, which deal with difficult site constraints (for
sun access for example) in an imaginative and highly urban way. Its connection
to urban greenery is reinforced by substantial tree planting and landscaping.
As one of
the participants in the site visit commented: “I was very much impressed by St
Erik’s in Stockholm; simply because excellent urban spaces go hand in hand with
a respectful integration to the existing quarter and the existing topography.
Our host Aleksander Wolodarski fortunately had the time to guide us around; he
sent us a beautifully documented book on Sankt Erik that is very helpful to
understand the scheme better. Architecturally I find Sankt Erik very refined
through all scales of perception and its use is very 'urban' indeed: in each
spot you know what space you're in and urban convention tells you how to behave
and who's property you are on. The loosely placed chapel adds poetry and
spiritual reflection to the area”.
Below, participants being addressed by Aleksander Wolodarski.
APPENDIX THREE - THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON MIXED USE
The Council participants ‘adopted’ the following General Agreement on Mixed Use
prepared as part of a conference run by the Ax:son Johnson Foundation.
THE AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION
General agreement No 1: Mixed-Use for Cities
Successful mixed use:
• supports social inclusion regardless of age, wealth, health, gender and
ethnicity
• catalyzes public life by attracting people to the same place for a variety of
reasons
• supports understanding of the world by making visible its variety of
activities
• enables the formation of local communities while providing a platform for
conflict resolution
• increases health and well-being as a result of walking an cycling
• makes the public and private realms safer through the presence of people
• encourages different scales of economic activity including the home
occupations
• achieves a market rate of return while accepting a normal risk on investment
• improves the balance between production and consumption
• sustains efficient use of land, infrastructure and buildings over time
• minimizes dependence on private motor vehicles, supports use of public
transport and encourages walking and cycling
• stimulates pedestrian activity by providing convenient access to daily needs
and meaningful destinations
• Corresponds to the scale and character of its urban context.